LCC Opera Workshop announces cast for 'Disney's High School Musical'

The Laredo Community College Opera Workshop is busy preparing for the spring launch of “Disney’s High School Musical on Stage.”

The debut performance is slated for Thursday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m., with a special Opening Night Gala at the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center.

Additional performances will take place Friday, April 16, and Saturday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m., with a final matinee performance on Sunday, April 18, at 3 p.m. at the Martinez Fine Arts Center.

Written by Peter Barsocchini, “High School Musical” was released on Jan. 20, 2006, and became the most successful Disney Channel original movie.

It was also the first Disney Channel Movie to have a theatrical sequel.

With a plot described by the author and numerous critics as a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” “High School Musical on Stage” is a story about two high school juniors dealing

with typical high school issues: peer pressure, finding oneself and fitting into the traditional roles expected of them.

Neither Troy Bolton, captain of the basketball team, nor Gabriella Montez, a beautiful but shy nerd, expects that their chance meeting at a New Year’s Eve party would lead them to try out for the lead

parts in their high school musical — nor did they know that breaking from their normal cliques would divide the school.

The jocks and the brainiacs conspire to drive a wedge between them in order to win their respective competitions, augmented by the conniving of Sharpay and Ryan who have had the leads in their school’s last 13 theatrical productions.

Troy and Gabriella resist peer pressure and rivalry, inspiring others along the way not to “stick to the status quo.”